Police horses long-standing cornerstone in Baltimore

Baltimore City Police Mounted Unit oldest in country at 125 years

There are plenty of horses in Baltimore this week for the Preakness, but there are some that are permanent residents of the city. They're part of the Baltimore City Police Mounted Unit.

Police horses long-standing cornerstone in Baltimore

Baltimore City Police Mounted Unit oldest in country at 125 years

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Updated: 6:54 AM EDT May 15, 2013

BALTIMORE —

There are plenty of horses in Baltimore this week for the Preakness, but there are some that are permanent residents of the city. They're part of the Baltimore City Police Mounted Unit.

In the middle of downtown Baltimore, there is an inconspicuously located horse stable. Eight draft horses are part of the city's police mounted unit. It's the longest continuously running mounted patrol unit in the country at 125 years strong.

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"There's a lot of pride. I've been in the unit for 16 years, and it's just great because there's no other mounted unit who can sit and say for 125 continuous years they've been together," Officer Janine Gilley said.

The officers go through special training, including how to ride on and care for the horses. They're some of the most visible officers around town. Rain or shine, they patrol the streets every day, just like any other police officer.

"It gives us a pretty good advantage. We can see higher. We can look down in the vehicles. We can see a lot more. We can see further than somebody that's on the ground in a crowd of people. We can see over the crowd," Officer Corey Valis said.

The mounted units not only do patrols every day, but they do a lot of traffic control and special events. Preakness is one of their biggest every year.

"We patrol to make sure that there's nothing on the turf course, including people, and that everybody stays in the infield and behaves themselves," Gilley said.

But the horses are very different than the thoroughbreds that race in the Preakness. Having the draft horses around can get the racing horses agitated.

"Our horses smell different, so the thoroughbreds will smell these guys and know they aren't horses from the race track, and it'll get them excited. Sometimes even the lead pony will get a little more excited seeing our guys. Our guys just take it in stride," Gilley said.

Whatever their assignment, people are drawn to the horses, so they also serve as goodwill ambassadors for the police department.

"Usually people will wave to us and say 'Hi.' They'll come up and ask us questions about the horses. We usually get a good feeling because people don't expect to see us at many places," Valis said.

So whether at Preakness or just around town, people can stop by and say hello to these guys.